The cheers and applause that Betty White received during the Saturday Night Live cold-open sketch told you everything you needed to know about the momentum White had going into this week. The sketch was one of SNL's fine Lawrence Welk parodies, and White had only a small part in it, but that didn't matter: After months of grassroots campaigning, White's appearance was its own reward: The audience was applauding as much for itself and its pop-culture populist power as it was for White herself.